Senior sports reporter with The Age

Brasilia: Host Brazil came within a crossbar's coat of paint of plunging the nation of 200 million people into mass despair when it almost succumbed to a last-minute, extra-time goal that would have meant Chile, not it, was facing Colombia in a World Cup quarter-final on Saturday morning (AEST).

But luck is a fortune. Had Mauricio Pinilla's shot in the dying moments of that round-of-16 game struck the woodwork and dipped down and over the line, then Brazil would still be in mourning for a shattered World Cup dream and its fellow South Americans would be fancying their chances of going all the way.

Instead, the ball bounced to safety, the yellow shirt-clad nation breathed a sigh of relief, and looked on with a mixture of fear and expectancy as the match went to penalties.

Jo: the Brazilian striker has failed to impress.
Photo: AP

The Brazilians managed to win the shootout, largely thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Julio Cesar.

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But all that game with the feisty Chileans did was raise more doubts about Brazil, leaving pundits and fans wondering whether it was good enough to win the tournament on home soil. Is it a real threat, or is it simply a case of other teams finding that Brazil pretty much amounts to Neymar and 10 others?

Certainly its young superstar has, in the main, stood up to be counted. He scored four goals in the opening three games, and while he went missing in the second half of the Chile fixture (where he picked up an injury) he had the mental fortitude to keep going and he struck the final penalty - the one that ultimately assured Brazil of victory.

Blunt instrument: Brazil striker Fred. Photo: AFP

But does Brazil offer any real threat other than Neymar? On what we have seen so far, not really.

Fred has been Luis Felipe Scolari's preferred weapon of choice to lead the line, but the only way this weapon has threatened to hurt teams is in the manner of a blunt instrument. He needs repeated efforts and numerous chances to make any impression, and he is yet to really do so, his only goal coming in the 4-1 rout of Cameroon in the group phase.

Neither really has the man who is his deputy, the gangly striker Jo. Both have looked less than threatening.

Hulk has not hit the target, while the midfielders have failed to weigh in much either.

Neymar has tended to find his own ball and do a lot of his own creative work.

The defence has looked shaky at times, with the David Luiz and Tiago Silva combination seemingly still a work in progress. Defensive midfielder Luiz Gustavo is suspended from this game after picking up a yellow card against Chile.

Perhaps Brazil, like many teams that go on to win World Cups, is slowly finding its rhythm and will come into its own now that the tournament is at the business end.

Certainly that is the fervent hope of this soccer crazy country, which will likely experience a mass neurosis should the Selecao fall in the quarter-final.

And that is a very real possibility, as Colombia is a team on top of its game and brimming with confidence. Few of the big teams in this World Cup have looked completely dominant at any stage.

Germany was held by a chaotic Ghana and taken to extra time by Algeria. Argentina has looked pedestrian save for Lionel Messi, and was almost taken to penalties by the Swiss. Belgium had to go to extra time to see off the US, while France only put Nigeria away in the last 11 minutes.

The Netherlands were three minutes from elimination in the round-of-16, while shock group D winner Costa Rica had to go to penalties to beat the notoriously goal-shy Greeks.

The one team that has been on a roll all the way through is Colombia. Coached by the Argentine Jose Pekerman, the Colombians looked tremendous in the group phase when they hammered Japan and Greece and eased home over Ivory Coast. They then saw off a rather less threatening Uruguay (minus Luis Suarez) in the round of 16.

Attacking midfielder James Rodriguez cemented his status as perhaps the player of the tournament with a volley for Colombia's opening goal against Uruguay that will rival Tim Cahill's effort or Robin van Persie's diving header for goal of the tournament.

Rodriguez has been sensational. The 22-year-old Monaco man has been at the heart of everything good that Colombia has achieved.

But he is not a one-man team. Colombia's 11 goals in four matches has made it the second-highest scorers (behind the Netherlands) and although Rodriguez has bagged half of them, there are plenty of other threats.

Juan Cuadrado, the midfielder who has provided much of the ammunition for those goals, and strikers Teofilo Gutierrez and Jackson Martinez are all dangerous when given a sight of the target.

At the back Colombia has been tight too, conceding only twice. Its defence is led by the vastly experienced skipper Mario Yepes. He will not crack under the weight of expectation in this one, and while bookies might have Brazil as favourites, the Colombians will not lack self-belief.

If they can hold Brazil early and take the crowd out of the game, they have every chance of adding to their only two victories over the powerhouses of Latin America.

The last of these came 13 years ago, in the 1991 Copa America, but significantly the last four meetings between the two have been draws, the most recent of which was in New York two years ago.